Where mobile telephones were perhaps viewed by many as a luxury when first introduced into the marketplace, they are today viewed by our society as very important, convenient, and useful tools. A great number of people now carry their mobile devices with them wherever they go. This popularity of wireless communication has spawned a multitude of new wireless systems, devices, protocols, etc. Consumer demand for advanced wireless functions and capabilities has also fueled a wide range of technological advances in the utility and capabilities of wireless devices. Wireless/mobile devices not only allow voice communication, but also facilitate messaging, multimedia communications, e-mail, Internet browsing, and access to a wide range of wireless applications and services.
An incredible amount of content, application, services, etc. is already available for use on wireless devices. However, the quantity of information that will be accessible to mobile terminals will increase significantly in the coming years, as further technological advances will continue to diminish the gap between desktop and wireless units. While access to this plethora of information is exciting to the mobile world, locating the desired information and utilizing the various access methods can become burdensome to the casual mobile terminal user. In fact, current mobile data services have taken off relatively slowly, partly due to the inconvenient and complex service discovery solutions offered for users of existing mobile phones.
Current mobile data service discovery and initiation has been accomplished in a variety of ways. Browsing using the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) generally involves starting from an operator preset service portal, and browsing forward by clicking various menus. Other current mobile data service discovery includes searching for the information required for sending messages, such as Short Message Service (SMS) messages, from various sources such as advertisements. For example, users may be required to search advertisements to find content strings and application numbers. Another existing service discovery method involves mobile terminal configuration settings. Currently, this is often performed by initiating the configuration from a web site or requesting it personally.
Furthermore, some applications or services that might be available for use on a mobile device may be of little value, until the user is physically placed in a particular location where such applications and/or services may be very useful. This has led to a concept generally referred to as location-based services (LBS). However, existing LBSs generally require some form of browsing, messaging, or other specific act on the part of the user, and does not relieve the user of any of the disadvantages of the prior art listed above.
Accordingly, there is a need in the communications industry for a manner of reducing the mobile terminal users' burden of discovering and initiating mobile data services. The present invention significantly reduces the need for the user to sift through numerous network sites, advertisements, documents, etc. to locate services and information when the user is in a situation/location where there is a high probability that the user will want a certain type of information. The present invention fulfills these and other needs, and offers other advantages over the prior art.